Iran inches forward: As Obama keeps talking

Last fall, just before the election, the White House revealed that President Obama had reached an agreement in principle on one-on-one negotiations that would result in Iran giving up the nuclear weapons program it claims it does not have. It was consistent with the principle Obama spelled out in the 2008 election that the President should have an open dialogue with even regimes such as Iran's and North Korea's.

On Thursday it was reported that Iran has been trying to buy massive numbers of magnets used in enriching uranium for use in nuclear weapons. Doing so is a violation of United Nations sanctions. Iran sought the magnets anyway.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose nation Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has openly advocated destroying, said last year that Iran probably would have the capability to make a nuclear weapon by this spring or summer. The question was whether the economic sanctions would collapse the regime before then. That does not seem likely. So, now what?

President Obama has said that a nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable. He has kept saying that as Iran's murderous dictator has inched ever closer to getting his blood-stained hands on a nuclear weapon. As Obama talks, Ahmadinejad acts. No one wants a new war. But the question must be asked: How much longer can this go on?